Dan Bavaro, 39

Dan Bavaro grew up on the mean streets of Freehold, N.J., a locale any self-respecting music fan will instantly identify as the hometown of Bruce Springsteen — and to hear him tell it, his early years could easily be summed up by the gritty yet poignant lyrics of the Boss.

“If I didn’t decide to change my life, I’d be dead or in prison right now,” says Bavaro, a high school dropout. “I stopped caring about school at the age of 12. I was out on the streets hustling. School was like punishment.”

Those street smarts served Bavaro well when he decided to leave the old neighborhood behind to start a limousine company in Manhattan. “I learned the transportation business from the old timers, the guys on the street that they don’t make anymore," he says. "That kind of experience is for a certain kind of person and it’s an education that can’t be taught in school.”